Guitar Interactive Magazine | 3 years ago
Action height is a much-misunderstood aspect of guitar setup. Like string gauge, there's a bit of a "macho" hangover when it comes to action height, with some players asserting that higher always equals better - embrace the pain, bro! By contrast, there are other players who swear by actions so low that they're impractical for anything besides the absolute deftest of touches - not exactly a recipe for expressive playing!
The juice, as you might expect, is usually somewhere in between these two. But where exactly? If no two players (and, for that matter, no two manufacturers) can agree on what a "perfect" action is, how are we supposed to find out? Well, let's get into it.
First, it's important to acknowledge that no two guitar players are alike. Even excluding musical tastes, experience level and playing background, humans (and by extension, guitar players) vary drastically from individual to individual. Hand size, finger length, grip strength, pain perception, physical stature, neural efficiency, muscle fibre type, fine motor control… all of these are important variables that will influence your preferred setup. Yes, we can make recommendations based on averages, but an individual is not an average - YOU are not an average. We can do better.
Instead, let's use a four-factor model for determining YOUR ideal action height that takes into account your anthropometry, playing style, preferences and experience level. This works with any guitar with an adjustable bridge, but it does take a little experimentation. Let's start with…
FRETTING PRESSURE:
Perhaps the most important determining factor for setting your action height is your fretting pressure. Let's start by saying that there's no "right" or "wrong" amount of pressure for everyone, as measured on something like a handgrip dynamometer. As we mentioned earlier, humans vary drastically from individual to individual.
Because of this, there is no one-size-fits-all action height, and you should adjust it to fit your own fretting pressure - specifically your "maximally relaxed" fretting pressure. Try this: play with as little force in the left hand as feels comfortable. If you can produce clean fretted notes, try notching your action up a sniff. Keep doing this until you can't produce clean notes with a MAXIMALLY relaxed hand. Once you find this height, lower the action just a little until those maximally relaxed notes are ringing clearly.
HAMMER-ON STRENGTH:
There's a relationship between legato technique and action height that's important to get right: too low, and you won't get the proprioceptive, tactile feedback you need to play accurately. Too high, and it'll be a struggle to sound notes with a relaxed left hand. Since hammer-ons are more of a "strike" than a "press", having to move the string further than is comfortable can quickly slow the velocity of your hammering finger, robbing you of the string-on-fret impact you need for a convincing hammer on.
The solution? Find your maximally relaxed hammer-on (the hammer-on you can do with the least amount of force that feels comfortable), and adjust your action up until you can't execute one anymore. Then back the action down just enough so that fully relaxed hammer-ons come out cleanly.
YOUR PREFERRED GENRE(S):
Some playing styles sound better with the "sizzly" sound of a low action. Others, not so much. Take funk, for example. Nile Rogers style sparkle can sound really cool with a low action and the strings slapping the frets on every strum. By contrast, Steve Cropper style soul comping will usually benefit from the more pure tone that a slightly higher action will produce (so long as it still meets our criteria for fretting pressure and hammer-on strength). The sizzle of a low action can add some definition and attack to a high gain tone (take players like John Petrucci, for example). By contrast, if you dabble in slide playing, it makes sense to keep your "normal" action high enough that you can pull the slide out at any point and feel comfortable.
So there you have it: a comprehensive guide on how to discover your perfect action height. Work through this list, making adjustments and taking notes as you go, and pretty soon, your instrument will be sounding and feeling better than it ever has - and hopefully, you'll play better and make better music because of it.
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